“I’m ecstatic,” he said in a phone interview Wednesday. “All the headlines should read ‘Snake handlers have religious rights in Tennessee.’”

Hambin said he was allowed to address the grand jury for half an hour at the hearing. His defense was simple. The snakes weren’t his, he said. They belonged to the church, and Hamblin said the wildlife officials had no business raiding a church.

In the weeks since the raid, Hamblin and his congregation have rallied local support for their cause. They collected signatures on petitions and made their case on Facebook and other social media outlets. Dozens of their supporters crowded in the Campbell County Courthouse for previous hearings.

Since 1947, Tennessee law has banned venomous snakes during church services or public settings. The state Supreme Court upheld that ban in the 1970s.

Matt Cameron, a spokesman for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, said its officers acted correctly in raiding Hamblin’s church.

Most of the snakes were in ill health when they were seized, said Cameron. More than half died since the raid, and the rest are being cared for at a Knoxville zoo.

That’s where they will remain, said Cameron.

“As far as returning the snakes — that is not an option,” he said.

State officials don’t plan to take any other action toward the church or Hamblin, said Cameron.

Hamblin has said repeatedly that he would go to jail rather than give up handing serpents in church. His church has continued to hold services with snakes on Friday nights and Sundays since the raid. Despite the publicity, National Geographic did not renew the reality-TV show for a second season.

But Hamblin was grateful to the grand jury and credited prayer and community support for its decision.

“God came by,” he said. “It’s a huge relief off our shoulders. Now we can go back to normal and not worry about being shut down.”

This is preposterous. The state of Tennessee literally just declared that religion makes you above the law. On second thought, I think my church may just required the handling of narcotics to perform our rituals…